DAPUDONG TITLE DEFENSE HANGS; SOUTH AFRICAN NAMED REFEREE
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 15 Jul 2014
The first title defense of IBO World Super Flyweight champion Edrin "The Sting" Dapudong is in danger of being scrapped after I informed that promoter Ayanda Matiti of South Africa and the International Boxing Organization (IBO) that I will not agree to a last minute change in ring officials.
This was the difficult decision I had to make as a boxing manager after I was informed by the International Boxing Organization (IBO) that British referee Michael Alexander has been replaced by a South African official from Johannesburg, an assignment which tilted the fight in favor of the South African challenger as another South African will also be one of the judges.
The two other judges are Bruce Mctavish from the Philippines and Waleska Roldan from the United States.
After I received the initial information through my email, IBO President Levine contacted me by overseas call explaining why the British referee was not able to come.
He also assured me that the South African referee will be fair and that should the decision of the fight end up being questionable, that Dapudong would be given a rematch.
Before I received his call, however, I already informed Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy who now supports Dapudong and the other Braveheart boxers of the situation.
I told him through text message that I suspect that the whole situation was set up so that Dapudong's title would be stolen from him in an uneven fight.
Pastor Quiboloy agreed with my position that if the original assignment of ring officials would not be followed, we will pull out Dapudong from the title fight.
In my phone conversation with the IBO President, I explained that the Filipino boxing fans will blame me if I allow the Filipino champion to get in the ring in a very obvious uneven fight.
"I will bear the brunt of the blame of the Filipino boxing fans should Dapudong lose his title in a controversial decision," I told Levine.
My decision to withdraw Dapudong from what I perceive to be a trap stems from a previous experience also in South Africa where we lost a 12 round fight to Gideon Buthelezi in November of 2012, a loss which we avenged with a first round knockout in a rematch.
The decision to withdraw from this fight will cost us a lot not only because Dapudong will not be paid the $25,000 purse he is supposed to receive but also because we bought our own tickets going to South Africa because of the delay on the part of the promoter Xaba Boxing to send us our tickets which were needed by the South African embassy before they would issue visas.
But the financial losses are nothing compared to the humiliation we will suffer in what is expected to be another hometown decision.
I am sure I will be blamed by Filipino boxing fans if I will be remiss in my responsibilities and duties as the manager of Edrin Dapudong to protect him from what I perceive to be a trap.
I believe that what I and Pastor Quiboloy decided on today will be recorded in the history of Philippine boxing as the first instance where a Filipino boxer was pulled out from a world championship fight to protect him from an uneven fight in spite of the financial losses.
(Photo caption: Dapudong hits the mitts held by trainer Nonoy Neri while asst. trainer Rex Penalosa keeps time in the courtyard of the Sunrock Guesthouse in Kempton Park, Johannesburg.)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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